18 Oct 2017

Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Biggie Butale says buying local products helps economic growth, economic diversification and the creation of sustainable employment opportunities.
Mr Butale, who is also Member of Parliament for Tati West, was addressing kgotla meetings in Jwaneng and Sese on Tuesday.

He said local producers were capable of producing goods that were appealing to customers. He added that they should take their clients seriously and offered them the best products in order to prove that locally made products had the potential to do well in the market.

He stated that Botswana was currently not exporting any products to the outside market and depended on goods from South Africa. He explained that a market for their products has been a challenge, adding that they only benefited from government departments. He also added that there should be consistency in delivery. He appealed to them to utilise government assistance programmes like CEDA to uplift their businesses. He urged residents to double their efforts and produce more, noting that the market emphasised uniformity in products, and that they should produce quality.

Mr Butale encouraged residents to form cooperatives in order to benefit from them, adding that government was committed to assisting and supporting them in the formation of cooperatives. He also advised them to visit some existing cooperatives and informed them about the strategies to form them. ENDS